Need Dish Alignment Advice

[Hack5190]

DISH DETAILS: After market 84 cm (33") dish with 3 LNB's for watching BELL (ExpressVu). The LNB for 91° is in the center, the 82° LNB is on the left (when viewing the dish from the satellite's perspective).

INSTALLATION: The same elevation works for both 91° and 82°. The 91° bird can be received with a skew between 40° to 92°. The 82° bird can be received with a skew between 62° to 72°. Signal strength ranges between mid 50's to mid 70's. Using an iPad and multiple augmented reality aiming apps there are no obstructions.

PROBLEM: Need to change the Azimut slightly to switch between 91° and 82°. Although the adjustment is slight, it's large enough that I'm unable to receive both 91° and 82° at the same time.



QUESTION: What am I doing wrong?

 

[wvman]

When you have a dish with multiple LNB's, the offset angles is built into the mount holding the secondary LNB's. If the mounting hardware is off just a bit, there may be no way to tune it properly. Dish had a problem like that when they first came out with multiple LNB mounts. Since there's a 10 degree spread between the two satellites, which will also require accurate adjustments with the skew and elevation of the sister LNB's, I'd recommend a two dish installation for the best reception.

That way both LNB's are looking directly at the satellite. Whenever possible, a single dish application always nets better signal levels unless you have a monster dish designed for stationary mounting of the dish using multiple LNB's. At best, Dish's multi-LNB dishes nets a marginal signal level that falls within their specifications. As I found out, there's always more signal to be gained by using a single dish on each of the two or three satellites. Remember, companies like Dish are out for more bang for their buck, which doesn't necessarily mean maximum efficiency.

Just something you may want to consider since dishes of the size you need are relatively inexpensive. I've found that the parabolic shape of the economy dishes used by the satellite providers are marginal as well. Good parabolic dishes cost more, and that's something everyone wants to avoid, but shouldn't. It's the heart of the system. There are websites available that will tell you the skew angle, elevation of the dish and the azimuth from your location to these satellites. All you need is the GPS data from your location and the satellite name or location and it will calculate it for you. Happy hunting.

 

[harshness]

Because you're using an aftermarket dish, you're kind of on your own to figure out what the elevation setting should be. The skew should be whatever the skew is for a real ExpressVu dish at your location.

 

[harshness]

All you need is the GPS data from your location and the satellite name or location and it will calculate it for you.

If you're whipping out your GPS and entering in latitude and longitude numbers you're doing things the hard way. dishpointer.com will allow you to pick out the location of your dish on a satellite image. It also features a multi-LNB configuration default for 82W and 91W.

 

[Hack5190]

When you have a dish with multiple LNB's, the offset angles is built into the mount holding the secondary LNB's. If the mounting hardware is off just a bit, there may be no way to tune it properly. Dish had a problem like that when they first came out with multiple LNB mounts. Since there's a 10 degree spread between the two satellites, which will also require accurate adjustments with the skew and elevation of the sister LNB's, I'd recommend a two dish installation for the best reception.

That way both LNB's are looking directly at the satellite. Whenever possible, a single dish application always nets better signal levels unless you have a monster dish designed for stationary mounting of the dish using multiple LNB's. At best, Dish's multi-LNB dishes nets a marginal signal level that falls within their specifications. As I found out, there's always more signal to be gained by using a single dish on each of the two or three satellites. Remember, companies like Dish are out for more bang for their buck, which doesn't necessarily mean maximum efficiency.

Just something you may want to consider since dishes of the size you need are relatively inexpensive. I've found that the parabolic shape of the economy dishes used by the satellite providers are marginal as well. Good parabolic dishes cost more, and that's something everyone wants to avoid, but shouldn't. It's the heart of the system. There are websites available that will tell you the skew angle, elevation of the dish and the azimuth from your location to these satellites. All you need is the GPS data from your location and the satellite name or location and it will calculate it for you. Happy hunting.

My thoughts were along the same lines as this. Today I took down a old "Dish" brand dual LNB dish. This weekend I'm going to try replacing the triple LNB holder with the dual. Fingers crossed it will work, if not then I'll have to consider two dishes.

Thanks for the information!

 

[harshness]

Modern pay satellite dishes are multi-focal to some extent so they often don't work optimally when used with an unintended LNB assembly as the feed horns aren't located where the dish is shooting.

 

[wvman]

My thoughts were along the same lines as this. Today I took down a old "Dish" brand dual LNB dish. This weekend I'm going to try replacing the triple LNB holder with the dual. Fingers crossed it will work, if not then I'll have to consider two dishes.

Thanks for the information!

It would be interesting to know how many Dish Network dishes ended up in the scrap heap or still hanging on the side of homes across the country. Dish changes their dishes more often than most people change underwear. I started selling Dish when they first came onto the scene, and their big hook was "the 18 inch dish." Since then, they kept getting bigger and more sophisticated. Some of their dishes were duds from the start, especially their mounting hardware for the multiple LNB's.

I remember when Dish went under the name Echostar and sold C-Band equipment. Their receivers ran extremely hot due to the compact power supply situated in the back left corner of the cabinet. One of my old fishing buddies would have lost his home had he not been there when the power supply caught fire. It nearly caught the drapes on fire while they were watching it, and the drapes were three inches or so behind the receiver. I had never seen a power supply get hot enough to burn the paint off the cabinet. Anyway, hope you find a solution to your problem.

 

[wvman]

Modern pay satellite dishes are multi-focal to some extent so they often don't work optimally when used with an unintended LNB assembly as the feed horns aren't located where the dish is shooting.

Prime focus is always better.

 

[catamount]

If you use the Dish/Bell dual lnb holder (Y shape), it will work fine. I've used it on 30 inch elliptical channelmasters . Same or a bit better quality. The focal length on the channelmasters needed to be shortened by about 2.5 to 2.75 inches. I have done it on a non-skewable dish, but then you would have to put the mount at an angle to approximate the required skew for your location.

Catamount

 

[harshness]

Prime focus is always better.

Your grand statement is mostly false outside of the degenerate case where you're using a single horn LNB assembly.

It isn't fair to compare a 1m round dish with an 19x24 multi-focal but any time your intention is to use the dish in some manner that it wasn't designed for, there will be big compromises.